Alcatel-Lucent Hits 10 Gbps Over Copper Wire

Ben Munson

Alcatel-Lucent today announced it has clocked a 10 Gbps connection over copper wire.

Bell Labs, the company’s research arm, used a prototype to demonstrate 1 Gbps “symmetrical ultra-broadband” across legacy copper phone lines. The technology splits the bandwidth so 1 Gbps can be used for download and upload.

Dubbed XG-Fast, the technology is being positioned as a way of providing fiber speeds without actually having to deploy fiber. XG-Fast is an extension of G.fast, which is coming to market next year and promising 500 Mbps speeds over copper.

Alcatel-Lucent used a technique called bonding, which combines pairs of copper wires, in order to hit 10 Gbps. Multi-pair copper bonding is useful for mobile backhaul because it takes advantage of copper’s lower costs and shorter deployment times while boosting the legacy wires’ limited bandwidth.

Distance is a factor in slowing down speeds but Alcatel-Lucent said it was able to maintain 1 Gbps over 70 meters using symmetrical technology.